Chris Hastings' Chicken & Dumplings

Iron Chef America and James Beard Award winner Chris Hastings shares his family’s cherished Chicken and Dumplings recipe taking it to new heights by building fresh and unexpected flavors in the classic Southern dish.

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[MUSIC] My name is Chris Hastings. I'm the Chef and Owner of the Hot and Hot fish club. I'm here in the Southern Living Taste Kitchen, to do one of my all time favorite dishes that I grew up with as a child. Chicken and Dumplens. We're gonna blanch all the vegetables to enrich this already delicious broth, with the flavor of those fall vegetables. Most of us as Southerners, and really outside of the South, have always loved chicken and dumplings. Like any great dish, they, they var region-to-region, state-to-state. Almost city-to-city depending on where you grew up. So we're going to take a little bit of flour to make a [UNKNOWN]. We've gotten our sauce exactly where we want it, simmering. We're gonna move away from here. We're gonna go make some dumplings. Probably what I love most about this recipe, it was time that I spent in the house I grew up in with my mother. Doing the simplest of things, talking about life, celebrating the simplicity of beauty of life over food and our relationship. We gonna take 3 ounces of butter and we gonna cut it into pea-sized pieces. And we're gonna work it into the flour. What you want to come away with is kind of like a cornmeal texture. Look at that. See how it's kind of coarse now? Almost looks like cornmeal? That's exactly what we're looking for. Get these dumpling to where they're not too soppy. But they're also not to firm. It's like a really thick pancake batter. What I want to do is I want to kind of divide everything up evenly. Portion to the chicken and, and mix it in there as well. Put some of the bacon in there. The eggs, like to quarter them. The sauce from the chicken and dumplens. Just pour that in, evenly distribute it. At this point, all we have to do is add the dumplings. And, don't want to make them too big. You know, kind of nestle them in there. [MUSIC]. Bake in a 400 degree oven. For about 25 minutes. Until the top of the dumplings are just golden brown and perfect. [MUSIC]. My mother died in 1980, so she never got the chance to see me as a chef. So, I, I feel really connected to her and then my craft and what I do. And this recipe always gives me great happiness to share with people because of times I've spent with [INAUDIBLE]. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.

[MUSIC] My name is Chris Hastings. I'm the Chef and Owner of the Hot and Hot fish club. I'm here in the Southern Living Taste Kitchen, to do one of my all time favorite dishes that I grew up with as a child. Chicken and Dumplens. We're gonna blanch all the vegetables to enrich this already delicious broth, with the flavor of those fall vegetables. Most of us as Southerners, and really outside of the South, have always loved chicken and dumplings. Like any great dish, they, they var region-to-region, state-to-state. Almost city-to-city depending on where you grew up. So we're going to take a little bit of flour to make a [UNKNOWN]. We've gotten our sauce exactly where we want it, simmering. We're gonna move away from here. We're gonna go make some dumplings. Probably what I love most about this recipe, it was time that I spent in the house I grew up in with my mother. Doing the simplest of things, talking about life, celebrating the simplicity of beauty of life over food and our relationship. We gonna take 3 ounces of butter and we gonna cut it into pea-sized pieces. And we're gonna work it into the flour. What you want to come away with is kind of like a cornmeal texture. Look at that. See how it's kind of coarse now? Almost looks like cornmeal? That's exactly what we're looking for. Get these dumpling to where they're not too soppy. But they're also not to firm. It's like a really thick pancake batter. What I want to do is I want to kind of divide everything up evenly. Portion to the chicken and, and mix it in there as well. Put some of the bacon in there. The eggs, like to quarter them. The sauce from the chicken and dumplens. Just pour that in, evenly distribute it. At this point, all we have to do is add the dumplings. And, don't want to make them too big. You know, kind of nestle them in there. [MUSIC]. Bake in a 400 degree oven. For about 25 minutes. Until the top of the dumplings are just golden brown and perfect. [MUSIC]. My mother died in 1980, so she never got the chance to see me as a chef. So, I, I feel really connected to her and then my craft and what I do. And this recipe always gives me great happiness to share with people because of times I've spent with [INAUDIBLE]. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.